Along with the development and popularization of the Internet, network games gradually become one of major applications of the Internet, and more and more Internet users play the network games.
A network game can be considered as a big game platform on which a lot of players are online. Network games include those ones supporting Instant Massaging (IM), and also include ordinary network games that do not have the IM feature. Existing IM network games mainly include MSN games and ICQ games, etc.
The existing network games include various mainstream games such as casual games, cyber games and entertainment games. When a player wants to play a game, the player needs to enter into a game room in a game hall first, find an appropriate seat in the game room, and then start a game with players on the same table. Generally, one room allows hundreds of users to play at the same time. Games mentioned in the present invention refer to games in which some players may cheat by knowing cards in other players' hand, such as Doudizhu, tuolaji, Chinese mahjong and Chinese chess games. The present invention is illustratively described by taking the casual game as an example.
Hereafter, taking an IM game for an example, the existing method for playing a casual game mainly includes the following steps:
Step one: A player runs game software, enters a corresponding game hall with an IM number, selects and enters into a game room providing a multi-player casual game.
Step two: A game server has correctly read table information in the game room when the player enters into the game room, and sends the table information to a terminal of the player, and displays actual information of all tables in the game room to the player. States of a table include whether the table is idle; and whether the table has an unoccupied seat if the table is idle.
Step three: The player selects a table which is idle and has an unoccupied seat with a “join the game” function provided by the game server or making a search himself, and occupies the seat of the table. The player also can select a table with all seats occupied and watch a game being played by other players on the table with a “watching” function provided by the game server.
Step four: After the player occupies the seat of the table, the game server provides the terminal of the player with information of other players on the same table. Such information can be used for effectively identifying the other players on the same table and includes IM numbers, nicknames, scores and levels, etc. When the number of the players on the same table is adequate for starting a game and all the players on the table select to start a game, a game starts.
In the existing network games, such as the multi-player casual game, the player can select a table and a seat of the table himself, and can obtain various information of partner-players on the same table. Therefore, it has a possibility for some players to cheat. Players cooperating to cheat can select the same table, know cards in one another's hand with the IM software or other communication manners, and then cheat. Additionally, since players can use the “watching” function, it provides a possibility for multiple players to cooperate to cheat and deceive other players, which makes the game lose its fair feature.